Quickride: 2015 Ford Ecosport

"Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW." (aya-yu)
12/04/2014 at 17:22 • Filed to: Quickride

Bro, did you ever wish a Fiesta comes with a lift kit to increase it's manliness? Do you think Monalisa should come with a mustache to increase it's manliness? Do you need a special pill to increase your manliness? This car is for you!

So, the Ecosport. In less developed countries like Indonesia or India, there are demand of certain small car that have quite a bit of ground clearance, since the road is not very good. And that's why the Ecosport exist. They basically took a Fiesta S with 1.6 litre engine, put on some lift kit, bloat it a bit, and you have a new car!

Just look at that light. You don't get that light in Fiesta if i remember correctly. Plus, because it has LED daytime running light, some people thinks that this car is more expensive than a Fiesta, but i'll save it for later, since price is the only good thing about it.

Engine wise, i kinda dissapointed that Ford only offers 1.6l 4-banger from the old Fiesta. I mean, i wanted some turbo action from that Ecoboost. Plus this engine feels a bit anemic since it only got 110hp and 104lb-ft of torque. 104! I remember one of you ask me about towing capacity, and Ford doesn't want to tell me since probably it can't tow anything.

POWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER! It's the start button btw.

Interior wise, it's pretty good. The seat are nice, the plastic is a tad better than some Japanese or Korean offering, and good luck found one with manual since Ford Indonesia thought "hey, we spent a lot of monies to put a 6-speed dual clutch autobox in this thing. So we have to market it like crazy!"

Handling-wise, it's pretty good. Not a fiesta good, but at least it corners much better than some weird turd with Juke badge on it. Think of it like driving a Fiesta with 5" of lift kit and some heavy invisible passenger. My main complaints is that 1.6, why? Maybe because ford want to save some monies, since that's the main selling point of this thing.

This ecosport with all options ticked (yes, including that weird plastic thing above the grill) will set you back for about 19k USD. For a comparasion, a base model Fiesta Ecoboost is 22k. Heck, if you opt for 5-speed manual instead of 6-speed dual-clutch for extra manliness, you only have to pay 18k USD. If you're some sort of real man who don't need fancy Ford Head unit or Voice recognition or fancy plastic on the grill, it's only 16k.

So, it's handling vs ground clearance really. And because this is the home of Fiesta ST, i know which part of town will win.

DISCUSSION (24)

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW.
12/04/2014 at 17:27

Wow that has less torque than my tiny Panda. Is there a diesel option? That would suit the car more and probably give you some towing capacity.

Edit: I'm dumb you already stated that the 1.6 is the sole option.

My citroen won't start > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW.
12/04/2014 at 17:31

Weirdly most of the people driving this around here are women.

Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
12/04/2014 at 17:32

Really? That's sad.

Nope. But let's see what future brings.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW.
12/04/2014 at 17:32

It has an amusing look to the front. Kind of an overly serious clown face.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW.
12/04/2014 at 17:37

I just checked and the UK version gets a diesel but it's apparently rubbish. Takes a full second longer to 60 than my car (which is slow enough to begin with) and is apparently noisy and not that efficient.

Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. > My citroen won't start
12/04/2014 at 17:37

Well, in here as well..

Mr. FiSTer of Team FiST Fetish > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW.
12/04/2014 at 17:39

Kinja'd!!!

The FiST would benefit from some lights like these!

Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
12/04/2014 at 17:39

Holy crap i need to check that out.

This car is already slow to begin with.

My citroen won't start > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW.
12/04/2014 at 17:42

What really got me though was the price. Here the Fiesta tops nearly where the Ecosport begins, $23,000 for the Fiesta 1.6 Titanium auto and $24,000 for the base Eco

Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. > Mr. FiSTer of Team FiST Fetish
12/04/2014 at 17:42

It's the best part of the car really

Svend > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
12/04/2014 at 17:45

In the U.K. we get a 1.0T EcoBoost 125PS (123bhp) 5 Speed manual, 1.5 112PS (111bhp) Powershift and 1.5 112PS 5 Speed manual. We also get a 1.5 Duratorq TDCi 89bhp 5 Speed manual.

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/for…

Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. > My citroen won't start
12/04/2014 at 17:46

Damn. That's interesting.

My citroen won't start > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW.
12/04/2014 at 17:47

Both the Fiesta and Ecosport are built in Indonesia and Brazil right? I'm really curious about that price difference.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > Svend
12/04/2014 at 17:49

I actually read the autocar review just before opening your comment. It must be the weight of the car but every engine option seems pretty sluggish. Even the ecoboost takes 12.3 seconds to 60 (my Panda does it in 12.6). I know a lot of people wont mind but when you're paying £16-17k for a car you expect it to have more get up and go than low end superminis.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW.
12/04/2014 at 17:51

It must be the weight or the gearing since its a fair bit slower than most comparable cars. Autocar said it was 2.5 seconds slower to 60 than an equally priced Citroen c4 cactus.

Svend > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
12/04/2014 at 18:00

I think that many companies are chasing emissions over any performance these days and choice of engines is getting smaller now.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > Svend
12/04/2014 at 18:05

I wish they'd follow the C4 cactus way of increasing efficiency; cutting weight. That way you still get decent performance.

Thunderface > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW.
12/04/2014 at 18:08

Wasn't it available with the 1.0T Ecoboost?

and 100 more > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW.
12/04/2014 at 18:09

Kinja'd!!!

Oh my gosh, it's just that simple?! All these years of boring out cylinders, tuning carbs, researching superchargers and turbochargers... all this time, Ford was sitting on the answer?!

Like the turbo button on the old 386 PCs... prepare to go to 66 MHz!

Svend > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
12/04/2014 at 18:15

I'm not a fan of the Cactus, especially the looks, ewwww.

Also crash standards would make weight loss an expensive route to go down for a company to implement to a full range of cars.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > Svend
12/04/2014 at 18:19

I quite like the cactus. But yeah weight saving often costs a lot more than just changing gearing or detuning the engine, it does make for a better car though.

Svend > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
12/04/2014 at 18:26

I guess it's the same reason the U.S. doesn't get certain Euro cars. It would cost too much to implement for the numbers of sales they'd get from it. So they do what is dictated for them to do (ie emissions and crash standards) and find as cheap a way as possible to make it appeal to the select demographic.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > Svend
12/04/2014 at 18:31

Yep, R&D is a very expensive process.

V8Demon - Prefers Autos for drag racing. Fite me! > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW.
12/04/2014 at 19:40

Manly.....

Kinja'd!!!